Sponsors (2)
Introduced April 22, 2026 by Alejandro Padilla · Last progress April 22, 2026
The bill secures substantial, enforceable water rights, land‑into‑trust status, and hundreds of millions in federal funding for the Agua Caliente Tribe—providing legal certainty and infrastructure resources—while trading away broad future claims, shifting regional water and tax authority, increasing federal spending, and creating environmental, fiscal, and legal trade‑offs for non‑tribal stakeholders and the Tribe itself.
Agua Caliente tribal members, Allottees, and the Tribe gain a quantified, federally backed Tribal Water Right (20,000 AFY with senior priority) and related enforceable water entitlements, securing long-term water supply and legal clarity for tribal uses.
The Tribe receives substantial dedicated federal funding and trust resources (including immediate and indexed appropriations and an investable trust) to build, operate, and maintain water infrastructure and augmentation projects, improving water reliability and enabling development.
Roughly 2,100+ acres and other federal lands are placed into trust or conveyed, expanding the Tribe's land base and enabling tribal control over land use, housing, resource management, and planning.
Tribal members, Allottees, and the Tribe give up broad categories of past and future claims and legal remedies in exchange for the settlement, potentially forfeiting compensation for unforeseen harms or claims that later prove more valuable.
Non-tribal water users, local water districts, and some county stakeholders may face reduced access to native groundwater, higher costs, and complications for regional water planning because of the Tribe's senior quantified water right and new tribal fee/delivery authorities.
The Act commits roughly $500 million (plus indexing/discretionary repricing) from Treasury and authorizes other federal spending, increasing federal outlays and creating trade-offs for other budget priorities and potential future cost increases.
Based on analysis of 14 sections of legislative text.
Recognizes a 20,000 AFY Tribal water right, places specified federal lands into trust or sale, creates a multi-account settlement trust with federal funding, and allows a Tribal Tax to replace county possessory taxes.
Establishes a comprehensive water-rights settlement for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians that recognizes a Tribal groundwater right of up to 20,000 acre-feet per year, takes specified federal lands into trust for the Tribe, authorizes sale of certain federal lands to the Coachella Valley Water District, and creates a federally managed settlement trust fund with specified accounts and multi-hundred-million-dollar deposits. It also replaces Riverside County ad valorem tax on Tribal possessory interests with a Tribal Tax tied to County rates, requires waivers and releases of past and certain future water claims by the Tribe and the United States, and conditions full effect on specified actions and appropriations (the Act’s “Enforceability Date”).